Kick Rob Anders out of the Conservative caucus

Rob Anders has proven himself to be not only an incompetent member of parliament, but also a bigoted and malicious one. Therefore it is incumbent on us the electorate to demand Stephen Harper expel Rob Anders from the Conservative caucus. There is no room for bigoted, xenophobic and malicious statements and actions by a member of a major Canadian political party, no less the governing party.

Rob Anders' bad week:

What prompted me to launch this petition were Anders' gaffes during the past week. Which began with Anders in an interview with iPolitics claiming that NDP leader Thomas Muclair helped to hasten Jack Layton's death by pushing Layton prior to the 2011 Federal election (knowing full well that he was ill) in hopes that Layton would step aside allowing Muclair to assume the leadership. Rather than step aside Layton overexerted himself, which according to Anders caused his death.

“I actually think one of the great stories that was missed by journalists was that Mr. Mulcair, with his arm twisted behind the scenes, helped to hasten Jack Layton’s death,” he said.“It was very clear to me watching the two of those gentlemen in the front benches, that Jack Layton was ill and that Mr. Mulcair was making it quite obvious that if Jack wasn’t well enough to fight the campaign and fight the election that he should step aside, and that because of that, Mr. Layton put his life at risk to go into the national election, and fight it, and did obviously an amazing job considering his state of health, and that he did that partly because of the arm-twisting behind the scenes by Mulcair and then subsequently died.”

Question: So you think that if that hadn’t existed, Layton would have taken a back seat, rested in some way?

“He would have taken more heed of his health. He might not have rushed into that election campaign with somebody with a knife in his back.”

________________ While Anders did apologize for this statement and called it "insensitive and inconsiderate", Rob Anders didn't learn from his most recent gaffe, in fact he doubled down and released an "insensitive and inconsiderate" and bigoted statement and petition.

In opposition to Bill C279 (which would add "gender identity" and "gender expression" as grounds for a discrimination claim in both the Canadian Human Rights Act and hate crime section of the Criminal Code) Anders claimed that this bill was just an attempt to allow transgendered men to use women's bathrooms. According to Anders this is unacceptable because:

"It is the duty of the House of Commons to protect and safeguard our children from any exposure and harm that will come from giving a man access to women’s public washroom facilities."

Thereby implying that transgendered individuals would use this bill to rape little girls in women's washrooms, putting out the image of transgendered individuals as being sexual deviants (reminiscent of the bigoted depictions of gays and lesbians which were once widespread in our society.) ____________ More Anders incompetence and ignorance:

Rob Anders has had a bad week, but his incompetent performance as a member of parliament didn't begin with his comments regarding Layton's death.

In March of this year Anders was kicked out of the Veterans Affairs Committee because according to the president of this committee "Anders showed up late, then started text messaging on his phone, then fell asleep." In response to criticisms of this behavior Anders claimed his accusers were "NDP "hacks" who praised Vladimir Putin".

In 2001 Anders was the sole objector to a bill that sought to make Nelson Mandela an honorary citizen of Canada because he was a "Communist and a terrorist." Rather than the inspirational leader who fought to end Apartheid and became the first black president of South Africa.

There have been other instances of intolerance by Anders (such as his view of China), but these were some of the more egregious instances.

Anders wants to restrict the rights of the transgendered community by circulating a petition? Lets give Harper a petition that really represents the views of Canadians.

Members of parliament must be held to a higher standard of comportment than the general public, both in private and public life. Rob Anders has not only fallen short of this standard, but sullied the position of MP since his initial election in 1997. The ignorance and incompetence displayed by Anders in both recent and distant actions and statements during his career has served to perpetuate a culture of disdain for Parliament by the general public, rather than respect.

I’m sure you’re aware of Anders’ statement on former Leader of the Opposition Jack Layton’s death, in addition to his petition in opposition to Bill C279 in which he equated transgendered individuals with violent sexual deviants. However, Anders’ incompetence didn’t begin with these statements.

Other shows of ineptitude include:

In March of this year when Anders was kicked out of the Veterans Affairs Committee because according to the president of this committee "Anders showed up late, then started text messaging on his phone, then fell asleep." In response to criticisms of this behavior Anders claimed his accusers were "NDP "hacks" who praised Vladimir Putin".

In 2001 Anders was the sole objector to a bill that sought to make Nelson Mandela an honorary citizen of Canada because he was a "Communist and a terrorist." rather than the inspirational leader who fought to end Apartheid and became the first black president of South Africa.

You are no doubt aware of other instances in which Anders acted in a way that wasn’t befitting of Parliament.

While I am aware that you do not have the power to expel Rob Anders from parliament, you do have the power to remove him from the Conservative caucus and I ask that you do so. As allowing him to remain is an implicit endorsement of Anders’ actions and views. I believe that there is no room for bigoted, xenophobic and malicious statements and actions by a member of a major Canadian political party, no less the governing party.